Another longish update on my (car) troubles... I have just removed the rocker cover and am in the process of removing the head and have discovered some more strangeness:
When I un-did the coolant drain plug nothing came out, hmmm this is odd I thought so I checked the radiator and the coolant was full to the top. When I loosened the water pump and housing water came flooding out. I'm guessing that this means that I have a blockage somewhere in the system, but where and how do I clear it? My theory is that this could have been the initial problem that caused the valve spring to break, let me explain: The temperature guage had been reading low after I had done about 200 miles on the new (to me, it's done about 100,000 miles) engine. I asked you lot and the general consensus was that this could just be normal for the engine and seeing as the car didn't overheat and ran fine for another 200 miles this explaination seemed likely. Could a blockage somewhere cause the temperature to read low? I have a new thermostat ready to fit so I can hopefully soon factor that out as the problem. The engine did overheat about 10 miles prior to the valve spring breaking this was because the fan belt fell off because the garage hadn't properly tightened the alternator down when they had put the new engine in. I don't think I had any serious overheating because the charging warning light came on and I stopped within 30 seconds but there was still steam coming from the engine and I could smell the 'I've just overheated' smell. Anyway as I've said before a valve spring (both of them) broke 10 miles after the overheating incident. I think that the spring may have broken because it was subjected to excessive temperatures, is this likely/possible? When I removed the rocker cover I noticed that the oil had collected in pools. Is this normal or could it be that water has got into rocker gear somehow? Is it even possible? Anyway the reason that I have not yet finished removing the head is that I cannot get a socket or spanner onto the middle nut holding the manifold/down-pipe on. Any ideas how I can get this nut off? And finally, I went back and re-checked the push-rods on the old engine and they all worked fine and none was lower than the others so I think it must just have been my eyesight that thought it was! Should I use the push rods were in the engine with the rockers (new engine) or should I use the ones that were with the cyliner head (old engine)? I am guessing that I should use the ones that go with the rockers as these will also match the tappets. That's all for now folks, sorry for the length of both these e-mails! cheers John http://www.spit1500.co.uk/ --- John Hobson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all, > > If you remember a few weeks back one of the valve springs broke as I > was > driving along. As a quick fix I decided to use the cylinder head from > my > old engine (which broke with bottom end trouble, or so I thought...). > > I have just dismatled the top end on the old engine(first time I have > ever done this and very easy it was too!). Once I had removed the > rocker > cover I noticed that the retaining nut on rocker pedestal 4 (for No.4 > cylinder) had come off completely and was lying on top of the cylinder > head. There was also a gap of 2-3mm between the bottom of the pedestal > and the head. > > I also found a suspecious piece of metal in there which on closer > examination turned out to be a 40 degree section of pedestal 3 from > where > the rocker shaft would pass throught the pedestal. > > The other slightly odd thing was that the rocker arm for the exhaust > valve on No.3 cylinder was not touching the push rod, there roughly a > 8mm > gap in between them and the push rod seemed to sit lower than the other > pushrods. > > I am assuming that the rocker shaft is probably toast as it is most > likely bent. As it is only the cylinder head that I want to swap over > can I use the rocker shaft and push rods from the new engine with the > cylinder head from the old engine? > > Is there anyway that I can check that the valves and springs are all > ok? > I have checked them all visually and they seem fine to my un-trained > eye. > > Also could the problems that I detailed above have been the cause for > the > engine making the regular clunk, clunk, clunk noise that prompted me to > put the new engine in? What could have gone wrong to cause all those > problems and why is one push rod sitting lower than the others? > > Assuming that you lot tell me to go ahead and put the cylinder head on > is > there anything else that I should do before fitting it like cleaning up > the surfaces, bores, pistons etc? > > Once the old cylinder head is on the new engine I was going to change > all > of the valves and valve springs and get unleaded valve seats fitted > (can > I do this myself or would a garage have to fit the valve seats?). Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free http://sbc.yahoo.com /// [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list /// Send admin requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool /// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive /// Send list postings to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// Edit your replies! If they include this trailer, they will NOT be sent.
